VMA Connected Q3 2017

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

SUMMER 2017

THE CONTENTS

04 Sights and Sounds of the Conference

08

11

12

Feature: Endangered Species

Expert Column: Strategic Sales

Expert Column: Human Resources

Will production workers become extinct?

Explore Your Sales Commitment Level

Help for the tough issues

03 10 13 14

Member News VMA Events

Showcase Awards and Luncheon 02

Member Survey Report New Members

04 11

o

VMA Events Find-An-Employee

The Art of Paper Xpri Recycled  Xpri Recycled Digital Gloss  Velvet  Text  Cover

MEMBER NEWS

ALL THINGS NEW

New Press, New Tech at Moquin

The first U.S. adopter of Heidelberg’s revolutionary Speedmaster XL 105 technology in 2006, Moquin Press has recently installed a Speedmaster XL 106-6+L. The first machine in the U.S. with Push to Stop technology that is fully integrated with Heidelberg’s Prinect workflow, Inpress Control 2 and Inspection Control 2, the XL 106 runs besides an existing XL 105-6 +L with UV. Moquin, a trade and packaging printer located near San Francisco, has never shied away from investing in new technologies in order to deliver world-class quality at competitive prices. “Bringing Industry 4.0 level automation into our pressroom with Push to Stop has been a total game changer.

The unprecedented level of integration of the machine with our workflow has made a tremendous impact to our productivity and has already driven our costs down. Accuracy, speed, and incredibly fast changeovers from job to job – compared to our older machine, the difference has been night and day,” said Greg Moquin, President and Owner.

Greg Moquin, President and Owner, together with the XL 106 press operator at Moquin Press.

DOME Makes a Bold Move

Bob Lindgren Retires

PIASC executive leadership transitioned from Bob Lindgren, who has served as its President/CEO since 1982, to Louis J. (Lou) Caron on June 1st. Lou is a CPA, and has served as CFO of both insurance firms and printing companies and therefore comes with top flight business skills. Bob will continue as a member of the PIASC staff, writing and editing Update, consulting with members on management issues, and working with other Associations and industry activities. In the past, he has been a good friend to VMA, a featured speaker at VMA dinner meetings, retreats and conferences, and is known for his financial acumen regarding the printing industry.

Beginning with Henry Henneberg in 1947, PIASC has had only three CEOs—first Henry, then Bob and now Lou—a great record of continuity.

DOME, Sacramento, is embarking on a momentous transition that will consolidate their five facilities and merge the now 280,000 total square feet of production into one location. DOME will expand into a newly renovated 320,000 square foot facility in Sacramento’s McClellan Park.

This move is the principal piece of an aggressive growth strategy outlined

by DOME’s executive team. A previous announcement regarding DOME’s purchase of two KBA Rapida presses was the first step in DOME’s core strategic initiative to position their business to provide not only the highest quality products, but continue to drive down costs by being the most efficient printing facility in the market.

Misha Pavlov, DOME’s President, announced to their 250 employees, “This move will literally change the face of who we are. DOME is a great company and we are on a new trajectory to be world class.

Consolidating into a single super facility will make DOME more efficient, while expanding our current capabilities.” Misha’s vision is unmistakable, “This is an electrifying transition that will be completed by the end of 2017 and it will strategically position us to grow exponentially and drastically expand our client base.”

New Press at Pyramid

Pyramid Printing, San Francisco is running a new HP Indigo 10000, a digital press designed to keep the company competitive in its marketplace. Pyramid is a direct marketing company that focuses on direct response campaigns, digital printing, web to print, print to web, and variable data printing. These services create the core offering that ties directly into an integrated campaign their clients may have with their marketing team or agency. Agencies like the fact that they have the design experience and the tools to create the interactive components the campaigns require.

Eric Zirbel (left), HP, and Kingman Leung, Pyramid Printing & Graphics pose with the company’s new HP Indigo 10000.

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

3

BOARD ROSTER: CHAIRMAN

Ian Flynn, Direct Response Imaging

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN

John Crammer, Best Label Company

BOARD MEMBERS:

Gil Caravantes Commerce Printing Services John Crammer Best Label

Sights Sounds of the Conference

By Barbara Silverman

Chris Cullen API Group Ian Flynn Direct Repsonse Imaging Dava Guthmiller Noise 13 Jeff Jarvis Spicers Frank Parks The Parks Group Chris Shadix Dome Print and Marketing Solutions San Francisco Division Cindy Sonnenberg K/P Corporation Stephen Sprinkel Sprinkel Media Network

STAFF ROSTER:

The Sights

PRESIDENT

Dan Nelson

DIRECTOR MEMBER SERVICES Jim Frey

DIRECTOR MEMBER PROGRAMS Laura Vargas

DIRECTOR EDUCATION Barbara Silverman

DESIGN MANAGER Todd Donahue

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR Gabrielle Disario

MEMBERSHIP SALES Shannon Wolford

FINANCIAL MANAGER Emily Gotladera

ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST Maria Salita

VICE PRESIDENT INSURANCE SERVICES David Katz

INSURANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS

Renee Prescott, Crystal Carlson, Lena Nelson, Sue Benavente, Jessica Clark, Diedra Lovan, Jimmie Thompson

DIRECTOR SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS Greg Golin

DIRECTOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Gerry Bonetto

HUMAN RESOURCE SPECIALIST Cheryl Chong

EDITOR

Noel Jeffrey

ON THE COVER:

VMA’s recent Design Conference is being heralded as the “best ever.” Audiences certainly enjoyed their experiences. Photos in collage by Kimberly Beck Rubio Photography.

4

The Sounds

It just seems to get better each year! The VMA Design Conference was held on June 14, as part of the opening day of AIGA’s SF Design Week. This year the conference was moved to Bespoke, an amazing new hi-tech venue conveniently located in the center of town, in the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

The event began as our high energy hostess-with-the-mostest, Lauren Elliot of Wicked Good Print Partners (WGPP) kicked off the sessions, introducing the “Large Man” and creative visionary Aaron Draplin of The Draplin Design Co., who shocked the audience with his unconventional delivery along with creative approaches to earning a living in design.

Dava Guthmiller from Noise 13 facilitated the recovery, discussing a sane yet creative approach to achieving meaning in a new brand identity. It was a perfect segue to Brian Dougherty who filled us in with stories of his quests for environmental and social impact design. Who would have thought that packaging light bulbs could be both fun and environmentally sound?

And More

Sounds More Sounds

David Hogue from Google presented some thought provoking ponderings as he asked us to consider what’s next? Where is all this going? And what should we really expect from our connected world in the future?

Corey Lewis of Black Flag Creative set his pirate ship afloat as he reviewed his methods of smooth sailing when dealing with design that would span many different channels.

Among the many highlights was IDEO’s Neil Stevenson.

Stevenson’s mission is to understand creativity and find new ways to enable and encourage creativity in others.

He shared some of his own stories, about stories to help us learn to apply storytelling in the service of creativity.

The founder of Social Media Trackers, Mark Schwartz opened the eyes of many

of us as he shared real life experiences of how amazing Facebook can be for not only personal (how he met his wife) but business success. And he has the data to prove it.

When Neal Haussel followed, he shared what he believes to be the future of packaging, considering the rise of e-commerce. His Unboxing videos were both amusing and convincing.

We had a fascinating discussion about AR and print by Erica Aiken of Rods and Cones and Cindy Walas of Walas Younger, LTD. They proved that amazing possibilities are now within reach with their own magazine “Out of Chaos” where attendees got to experience AR first hand.

Zooka Creative’s Director of Strategy, Santiago Sinisterra provided an overview of what a brand really is and then went on to share a fascinating case study of the rebranding of Union City. He was swamped with questions in the panel discussion that followed.

Peleg Top closed the day by enrapturing us all with his own story. We were almost there with him as he shared his history that led to a 2-year sabbatical from our overly connected world and then the wisdom he acquired from it. He focused on how we can get more out of life by having less.

Barbara Stephenson from 300FEETOUT offered us a lighthearted look into the workings of a functioning design studio and how to keep the creativity flowing. It was the perfect segue for Michael Osborne of Michael Osborne Design and one of our regulars, who challenged us to find our creativity and keep it flowing.

Perhaps that is easy for Michael but it’s not always that easy for many of us and we certainly appreciated his insights.

Photos by Kimberly Beck Rubio Photography

Wrap It Up

Among the bonuses of this conference were the breaks! Along with visits to the wonderful exhibitors, attendees had ample opportunity to mingle and learn from each other.

It was quite a day. Word on the street is that this event was clearly one of great inspiration and education and a perfect kick-off to SF Design Week!

See ya next year!

Barbara Silverman is the Director of Education at VMA (barbara@vma.bz).

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

5

BEYOND FLEXIBILITY

REDEFINE INNOVATION UNLEASH NEW OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE POWER OF PROVEN OCÉ INKJET TECHNOLOGIES Thanks to the Océ iQuarius™ technologies breakthrough in high-speed sheet-fed inkjet versatility, print providers can now handle new and more diverse applications — making it possible to profitably address new market segments. And with even more qualified inkjet papers, including high-quality gloss and lightweight stocks, the possibilities are endless.

Discover how the Océ VarioPrint® i300 inkjet press, powered by Océ iQuarius technologies, is redefining cost, productivity, and throughput equation without compromising quality.

Watch the Océ VarioPrint i300/iQuarius Technologies video: PPS.CSA.CANON.COM/IQUARIUS

877-623-4969 CSA.CANON.COM

Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Océ and Océ VarioPrint are registered trademarks of Océ-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. Océ iQuarius is a trademark of Océ-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. © 2017 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved.

And the Conference Exhibitors said…

Jeff Jarvis SPICERS PAPER “I can honestly say this was the best event in years. We had quality traffic at our booth and we were able to get some solid business connections that we will be following up on.”

Travis Gilkey BEST LABEL COMPANY “We met a contact at Foster Farms Creative and feel that meeting alone was worth the cost of the Conference!”

Chris Lambert NEENAH PAPER “This was the best Conference in three years!”

Glenn Hollingsworth APPLETON COATED “I thought it was well worth the price of admission.

Thanks again.”

Ray Mireles COMMERCE PRINTING “We made some really great contacts. Setting up a plant tour with a large, potential client right now. And the event location was also great this year.”

Ian Flynn DRI “Bespoke is terrific! We made some great new contacts and reconnected with old clients. It was certainly worthwhile for us.”

Kate Stoness FUNCTIONFOX “We had a steady flow of attendees to our exhibit space throughout the day. Overall we thought it was a great event and we would be happy to be a part of it again next year.”

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

7

D E R E G N A D N E

S E I C E P S Today’s Production Workers are hard to find.

Will they be extinct by tomorrow?

BY NOEL JEFFREY

What are some of the skills that modern manufacturers are looking for?

• Knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering processes • Ability to work with computerized systems • Ability to read and write machine programming code • Ability to read manufacturing blueprints • Ability to operate automated manufacturing systems • Understanding of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical systems 8

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

T

he Wall Street Journal’s front page fivecolumn headline on June 3-4 read, “Jobless Rate Falls to 16-Year Low.” The tagline that followed said, “Fewer jobs are being created though in a sign firms are struggling with labor shortages.”

In short, manufacturing workers, especially people skilled in modern manufacturing techniques are hard to find. They need to be “coddled” as carefully as the Galápagos Penguin or Leatherback Sea Turtle.

Brian Regan, co-founder and president of Semper International, agrees that printing is among the manufacturing areas where it’s difficult to find production workers—skilled or not. “With a national unemployment rate of 4.54%,” Regan says, “anyone worth their salt is working.” Semper is a staffing solutions service for the printing and graphic arts industry. Regan, who ran a press himself in the past, is also deeply engaged in the printing community, having served as the past Chairman and active board member of the Printing and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF).

HOW WE GOT HERE

The industry has a recruitment challenge. Regan traces the beginning of today’s significant problem of production worker shortages back some 17 years.

“That’s when it became ‘common knowledge’ that print was dead,” he says. “When that was pushed out to the public parents and students began to see print as ‘old,’ no fun—just reinforcing that message. Schools citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing less need began canceling General Degree programs and shop classes.”

What is true for print extends to most careers that do not require a college degree. As an example, on May 26, Fox News TV host Tucker Carlson featured a segment with Mike Rowe, the TV host of the special series Dirty Jobs. Rowe is also founder of | CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

the mikeroweWORKS Foundation,* which awards scholarships to students pursuing a career in the skilled trades. He is closely associated with the Future Farmers of America, Skills USA, and the Boy Scouts of America. Rowe pointed out that a number of years ago parents and counselors determined that the alternative to college preparatory programs in high school were subordinate. Vocational education was a “consolation prize.” “There are 5.6 million open jobs available that do not require a four-year degree,” Rowe says. “But somewhere in the reptilian parts of our brains people still call these substandard.”

And, there’s more to printing’s woes. “Then the great recession hit and half of the production workers in the industry were laid off as companies went under or consolidated.” Regan continues. “We lost a whole flock of skilled workers who because they were adept at mechanical tasks made easy transitions to other industries like fracking.” The last straw as it were is that the boomer generation is retiring rapidly. “It’s not likely that they will be coming back,” he says.

Jules VanSant also credits the great recession and trade schools “going away” as factors causing today’s difficulties in finding production personnel. “In the next years the shortage will be very critical,” she notes. VanSant is Executive Director of VMA neighbor PPI, The New Visual Communications Industries Association that is also known as the Pacific Printing Industries. This PIA affiliate represents six states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii.

CONFRONTING THE DANGER

Some industry segments are responding. VanSant cites new emphasis on CTE* programs in Oregon and Washington as positive. “The states are starting to see the need to support manufacturing and beginning to

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step up. We are trying to liaison with these programs. Our industry is going to have to Career Technical Education (CTE) is a spend some money. high school curriculum aimed at equipping Custom manufacturing students with the training and job skills to like printing is a great go directly into industry and the workforce place for students to or into post-secondary education. In recent land.” VanSant is a board years, there has been a growing emphasis member of the PGSF within CTE to pair job training with academic and would like to see the content that can improve both college and group expand beyond career-readiness. The movement seeks to giving scholarships. bridge a long-standing divide between a “We have to be curriculum that prepares students for college thoughtful about and one that often has tracked students into recruitment and insert work-only prospects after graduation. It also ourselves into the design seeks to give students the more advanced of these programs,” she knowledge necessary to compete with today’s continues. “We have to try highly skilled workforce. to encourage legitimate paths to the skill sets needed in printing so that eventually we get a better curriculum. We are also encouraging vendors to do some training and sending representatives to job fairs. We have stepped up our game and participate in career days and talk about careers and what they pay. We show them the pathway and try to Heidelberg USA supports industry education make it hip and cool.” and offers an apprentice program In addition, PPI participates in Printworkers.com, a Job Board for Premedia, Digital Print & Traditional Print Professionals. In fact, PIA national and most affiliate associations including VMA have job boards and register job seekers on their websites as part of their services to member companies. Semper’s Regan would like to promote additional efforts through the associations.

“We are at the point where the only solution to finding workers is to either train them or steal them,” Regan notes. Training, through scholarships, apprenticeships and internships is obviously the healthier solution. He believes that in addition to the recruitment problem, printing production suffers from a retention problem. From his own experience in placing temporary workers, Regan observes that maybe one out of ten people may show promise in attitude and abilities to consider training. Here’s where the retention problem shows up. When the job is over, it’s over and the workers are unemployed and out of touch with the printing industry. They may have liked printing but they are “interested, not vested.” Other opportunities, like the oil industry beckon.

Regan thinks that if associations would become

*CTE Defined

involved with the workers that have potential, perhaps offering training programs or finding full blown apprenticeships, it could ease the problem. He’d like to work with the associations to accomplish this. He notes that employers should consider offering training as well. Boomer retirees who might appreciate part time or occasional work could make excellent trainers.

Northern California, with its extraordinarily high salaries for tech workers and its extraordinarily high cost of living and presents an especially difficult challenge with no easy answers from or for anyone.

Everyone Connected talked to or researched agreed that printers here will have to pay more overall, particularly as the $15 hourly minimum wage kicks in for truly unskilled workers.

REPOPULATING THE SPECIES

One longstanding program that local printers could support in partnership with local educators is Skills USA * with its regional and national programs and competitions. This year, the National Competition, is being held in Louisville, KY as we go to press.

State Competition Gold Medalists from Riverside Community College and Eagle Rock and South Pasadena High Schools are competing.

For inspiration, printers can look to Heidelberg,* a company that sets an example for the industry as a whole. While it has had an apprenticeship program based in Germany for years, it has recently added an apprentice position here in the US. Heidelberg USA has also been a steadfast supporter of the national Skills USA program and has hosted events in the past.

Even with continued industry consolidation, production workers will be needed in the foreseeable future. “Companies that are not investing in new technologies have no future,” VanSant says, “but those who have found a niche and are continuing to add capabilities are growing and they need people.

Print is the disruptive media now. There are studies coming out that show the effectiveness of a print spend incorporated into a digital sales spend. Our employers must step up. That’s my call to action.”

RUNNING R2D2

Mike Rowe also tackles the prediction that robotics and automation will eventually displace all manufacturing workers. To the extent that a task can be automated, that’s certainly true. We can see it now in prepress workflows that take in a file and control it through the bindery. We see it in automated plate changers, cloud connected maintenance and more. However, someone has to program all this. “Learning a skill that’s desirable negates the whole conversation,” he says.

“If your skills are in demand, you can work where you want. Skills are inherently mobile.” He cites welding as an example, noting that while a starting salary might be $45,000, welders can make over $100,000 when overtime is factored in.

Brian Regan makes the same point for the printing VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

9

industry. He explains that a philosopher makes a high salary but works unlimited hours. An experienced web press operator is paid for overtime and can take home a six figure salary as well. And, overtime is a reality in the graphic communications industry. As PIASC’s Bob Lindgren has written for years, it almost always makes more sense for owners to plan on overtime rather than to try to support overstaffing during slow periods.

Finally, Rowe points out that trades typically represent the path to small business ownership. A person may start out on the bottom rung as a plumber but plan to acquire a truck then employees or a partner then another truck etc. A pressman could want to take a plunge with his own machine. Today’s employers may have started that way themselves. Tomorrow’s will as well. When it happens, as Rowe says, “R2D2 take a bow.”

profoundlydisconnected.com

The mikeroweWORKS Foundation started the Profoundly Disconnected® campaign to challenge the absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only path to success. The Skills Gap is here, and if we don’t close it, it’ll swallow us all.

UPCOMING VMA EVENTS

Places to be. Things to do. People to see.

Showcase Awards Reception

August 24 Scott’s Seafood Restaurant, Oakland 5:30 - 9:00 pm Member - $55 , Non-Member - $65

Celebrate the winning entries of the 20th Annual VMA Showcase Awards. Take this opportunity to entertain your clients to cocktails and dinner and celebrate your work! Awards will be presented for Grand Awards and Best of Show for Print and Design. Gold Award winning entries will be on display.

OUTLOOK 17 CONFERENCE

September 10, 2017 8:00 am - 12:00 noon McCormick Place South, Chicago

OUTLOOK, the annual C-level industry trends and technology update conference held prior to the opening of PRINT [and GRAPH EXPO] is always highly popular among graphic communications industry leaders. This year’s 10

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

PPI Executive Director Jules VanSant calls for printers to step up recruitment efforts.

Programs of Interest http://www.skillsusa.org/ http://www.skillsusaca.org/region/1 https://www.heidelberg.com/us/en/company/ press_1/news_overview/press_release_20928.jsp

OUTLOOK 17 conference promises to continue the tradition by offering a solid lineup of topics and speakers set to address game-changing business management strategies, exciting new profit opportunities, breaking economic updates, and more. www.Print2017.com.

PRINT17

September 10 - 14 McCormick Place South, Chicago

The largest gathering of print and graphic communications buyers, decision makers and suppliers in North America will return to McCormick Place in Chicago this September.

Whether you’re looking for cutting-edge technologies, want to explore the latest products and services on the market or need the knowledge to overcome your business challenges, you’ll get it at PRINT 17. www.print2017.com

VMA Day at the BallPark

Giants vs San Diego Padres September 30 Virgin America Club Level 1:05 pm game time with tailgate starting at 11 am AT&T Park, San Francisco Member - $105 ,Non-Member - $125

Just around the corner from the offices of Visual Media Alliance is one of the best ballparks in the country, with one of the most exciting teams. Visual Media Alliance’s Day At AT&T Park is a great company outing or another opportunity to spend time with your industry friends. The tailgate party is always a great time to fill up and warm up for the San Francisco Giants!

4. You deliver more than you promise, and always promise a lot!

There’s the old sales mantra that says “under commit and over-deliver,” but you never want to “over commit and under-deliver.”

STRATEGIC SELLING STORY | LESLIE GROENE

LESLIE GROENE Leslie Groene is one of the coaching superstars in the world of corporate sales as well as a business development trainer, executive consultant and author.

Her background is in the paper and printing industries as a sales rep and sales manager. She helps her clients focus on revenue generation and profit growth. She authored the business strategy book “Picture Yourself & the Life You Want” and is a nationallyrenowned motivational speaker.

To purchase her book or contact her please go to www.GroeneConsulting.com.

Here is the link to her e-newsletter, http://www. groeneconsulting.com/ Newsletter/2014.12/

10 Ways to Explore Your Sales Commitment Level!

1. You don’t think in terms of sales but rather in terms of building a business.

Great salespeople are building a business, not just trying to make a sale. When you think beyond a sale, you’re going to get other people’s attention much more easily. They’re going to be more interested in what you have to say. You want something that’s going to survive beyond one sale.

2. You build your businesses one customer at a time and then always leverage the last customer into more customers.

Don’t ever just make a sale and forget about that client.

The last sale you make should always open the door to new relationships and clients.

3. You listen more than you speak, getting an understanding of the customer’s needs and then finding a solution.

Great salespeople always ask their clients why they want something done. In listening more than talking, you can better accommodate what they are looking for.

5. You invest time in things (people) that positively affect your income and avoid spending time on things (people) that have no return.

Great producers know how to spend time on activity that rings the register. Don’t waste your time on activity that can’t tell you anything, or doesn’t produce anything now or in the future.

6. You are always seeking new, better and faster ways to increase your sales efforts.

Be really concerned about time. Time really is money! Great sales people consistently work on improving themselves and look for faster ways to close transactions.

7. You’re willing to invest in networking, community and relationships, knowing that the difference between a contact and a contract is the “R” that stands for “Relationship.”

Invest in your community. Don’t look at it as an expense since you need to develop these relationships.

So, go ahead and join the country club and give money to politicians. In other words, be involved as much as you can.

8. You don’t depend on marketplace economies for the outcome and instead rely on your actions.

If you’re great, you’re going to do well in any economy, because you create your own economy. You run your own race and make something happen despite the environment.

9. Surround yourself with overachievers and have little time for those who don’t create opportunities.

Sometimes you might be viewed as being uninterested in others, but the truth is that you’re just not interested in low production. You don’t want to waste time with people who can’t get anything done.

10. You’re fanatical about selling.

The best salespeople are obsessed with their customers and growing their businesses.

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

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HUMAN RESOURCES STORY | BY CHERYL CHONG

Tough Ones All – Call for Information and Assistance CHERYL CHONG Cheryl Chong is VMA’s Human Resources Director and your #1 source for assistance responsible for counseling on HR matters like family leave, discrimination, sexual harassment and wage and hour compliance. She has a Bachelors and Masters degree from Chapman University in Orange, CA, along with 20+ years of HR experience in the trenches. Think of her as an extension of your HR department, courtesy of VMA. Please feel free to reach out for answers or introduce your organization by calling 800659-3363 or cheryl@vma.bz.

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VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

A member firm recently called about a death of an employee. This was their first time experiencing this type of traumatic event so they needed assistance in guiding them during this time. One of the most valuable tools a company can utilize and offer to their employees during such types of events is the use of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). This is the type of support employees can have in a private setting. An EAP is a voluntary, work-related program that offers free and confidential assessments, referrals and short-term counseling to employees who have work-related or personal issues. Usually, an EAP is paired with the employer health plan. For more information regarding your EAP, contact Sue or e-mail sue@vma.bz. With regards to preparing for the death of an employee, if the employee dies while on the job, CAL OSHA will need to be contacted soonest to report the details. For assistance on how to prepare a final check and to get a death checklist, contact me.

The California Labor Code (CLC 2751) provides that employers of persons paid by commission must give each such person a signed contract covering their terms of compensation. This contract can be prospectively changed at any time by written notice from the employer. Not only are such contracts required by law, but they avoid misunderstandings and disputes about the proper payment of commission. A sample contract | CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

and explanatory material is available at bit.ly/ SalesCompensationAgreements on piasc.org. For help on this, call me.

Employers who are concerned with the maintenance of a safe workplace wonder about the efficacy of pre-employment drug testing and random drug tests of employees. The background reality is that recreational drugs are becoming legal in California and a number of other states. More importantly, a significant proportion of younger people use recreational drugs (pot, etc.) and most people indulge in alcohol. Both are intoxicants and can degrade safe, efficient behavior. The challenge is that drug screens will pick up pot use but not see alcohol since it metabolizes quickly. If one is to follow an absolute policy of declining to hire anyone who fails to pass the drug screen or dismiss ones who fail the random test, they are likely to face difficulties flowing from the loss of otherwise useful employees or candidates. Clearly, an employee who appears impaired can be sent home and their condition confirmed with a drug test. If the employer’s policy is focused upon dealing with impairment that prevents safe and efficient workplace performance, it’s on sound ground. Going beyond this may present difficult discrimination issues and adverse actions may be difficult to defend. There is an exception to these concerns if the employee is a motor vehicle operator or in some government contract situations. Call me for help on this.

It may seem natural to ask a non-exempt (hourly) employee to help finish a project at their home or answer business calls in the evening. If they’re not paid for doing this, the door has been opened to costly claims for back wages which can balloon into class action suits involving all employees. Expressing frustration and anger over these issues will make the problem worse. It’s also important to remember that wage and hour claims are now usually excluded from the EPL insurance coverage that the firm may have. For assistance with these types of wage and hour issues call me.

MEMBER SURVEY VMA staff appreciates the participants in this spring’s Member Interest Survey and extends a thank-you for the time spent on the survey and the guidance it provides.

First and foremost, the answers to why owners and managers enrolled their companies indicates that the Association is emphasizing programs that are most important to membership. Responses also indicate that while no change in overall direction is needed for the group, improvements, especially in more outreach to outlying districts and innovation in program delivery are desirable.

Here’s how members answered the significant Why question.

Why did you join? (Check all that apply.)

Health / Business Insurance ..........62.1% ......... 59 Industry News...............................58.9% ......... 56 Education & Training .....................43.2% ......... 41 Networking & Events ....................40.0% ......... 38 Buying Discounts ..........................40.0% ......... 38 HR Services ..................................27.4% ......... 26

Yields Actionable Results

Surveys & Studies.........................25.3% ......... 24 Find-an-Employee / Find-a-Job ....22.1% ......... 21 Sales Support ...............................16.8% ......... 16

Members Look For When asked about management education and training programs that would be most useful Sales and Management (Profitability, Forecasts, Trends) and Insurance (Health, Commercial, Workers Comp) were the most in demand with over 50 percent or close to 50 percent of respondents checking those.

These dovetail the top reasons for joining.

Not surprising when you take the work week into consideration, Tuesday is the most convenient day for webinars and Thursday evening for dinner meetings. Webinars prove to be somewhat “controversial” with several members requesting more, especially companies further from the Bay Area, while several said they are too boring or time consuming. One actionable suggestion might solve part of those objections. “If a webinar can be recorded and viewed at a later date/time on demand that would allow more people the ability

to watch even if they can’t ask questions,” one member wrote.

Again, members from outlying areas would like more VMA events. Here are some specific requests.

“Have more presence in Reno. We pretty much belong to VMA to support the industry and PIA.” “Holding evets at locations throughout the Bay Area rather than just SF & East Bay.” “More events in central valley.” “More meetings in central CA.”

Constructive Comments VMA staff also appreciates the positive comments regarding the Association’s communication efforts – with 87.2 percent of respondents saying the frequency of communications was just about right and only 9.6 percent saying excessive. The various publications VMA puts out came in for really good marks as did communicating via email, mail and the website. This report remains just a taste. The survey offered lots more and with input like this, VMA will continue to strive to offer ever increasing value to members. For a full report, visit http://membersurvey.vma.bz.

VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

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NEW MEMBERS EDITION ONE Edition One Books

Edition One Books, Berkeley, works with design professionals to manufacture short-run books of unmatched quality and customization. We are focused on building long term relationships with designers and creatives, and strive to offer a more personalized book production service. We offer a unique suite of in-house production capabilities and hands-on customer service.

Ben Zoltkin 510-705-1930 ben@editiononebooks.com www.editiononebooks.com

GMG Color

GMG Color is a leading developer and global supplier of high-end color management software solutions. Headquartered in Germany, its customers span a wide range of industries and application areas including advertising agencies, prepress houses, offset, flexo, packaging, digital, and large-format printers as well as gravure printers.

Eric Dalton 646-583-0463 eric.dalton@gmgcolor.com www.gmgcolor.com

VM Access Goes Mobile!

Now Visual Media Access is available on all your mobile devices from smart phones to tablets. Try it out today at vmaccess.org.

NOW FEATURING: • Location based search • Single search box • Easy to use category search • 12,000 impression a month • As a member, your company is listed. Make sure your company information is up-to-date!

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VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE

| CONNECTED | SUMMER 2017

Caraustar Recycling

Recycling is our life!

Caraustar Recycling Group collects, sorts and processes over 4 million tons of waste paper for re-use each year. The company is headquartered in Georgia and has locations nationwide, including Santa Clara. They handle all grades of recycled paper such as cardboard, mixed papers, office paper, magazines and books as well as commercial single stream.

Caraustar Recycling is a full service hauler, including recycling audits and collection.

Rodney.Dumlao@Caraustar.com 800-246-5634 www.caraustar.com

Leah Molinari-Jones Design

Providing creative graphic design solutions to serve essential business needs.

Extensive experience producing marketing materials for digital and print. Publications, brand identity, presentation media, tradeshows, and communications media. Proven success working individually and collaboratively with teams. Location: Campbell.

Leah Molinari-Jones 408-204-6842 leahmjones@comcast.net

V-Innovative

Overstreet Associates We’re an advertising agency in San Francisco’s Bay Area (Hayward) that provides big agency know-how on a smallbusiness scale. We are equipped with cutting edge tools, along with a creative and highlyskilled staff, that provides clients with everything they need to successfully market their companies and reach their target audience. With nearly 30 years of experience, we know what we’re doing and we do it well.

Scott Overstreet 510-487-8660 www.overstreet1.com

V-Innovative is a Bay Area Packaging design company (Hayward) with production facilities in China and USA. Our scale covers concept development, structural engineering, design, sampling, project management and supply chain distribution.

Rick Conant 510-780-0638 x1006 r.conant@v-innovative.com www.v-innovative.com

With 97 brightness on both sides of each sheet or roll, Accent® Opaque makes every print sizzle. To see the value and performance Accent brings to every project, ask your paper rep for an Accent swatch book or request one online at www.AccentAGame.com.

Accent Opaque ®

© 2017 International Paper Company. All rights reserved. Accent is a registered trademark of International Paper Company.

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